Find local shops with theSHOPPERSbible.com

Last week I drew your attention to a story about supermarkets selling their green credentials.  One of the things I mentioned was how your local grocer was likely to be hugely more energy-efficient than the supermarket, and someone very kindly drew my attention to curiously-cased theSHOPPERSbible.com.

theSHOPPERSbible was set up by a businessman who goes by the delightful name of David Croissant.  His favourite local shop (we're not told what it sold but I like to think it was a boulangerie) shut down after competition from the larger stores nearby proved too much for it.  As a result, he decided to fund and promote the creation of theSHOPPERSbible, which acts as a kind of portal for independent retailers.  Shoppers can use the site to search for local shops for local people in their local area, and use the site to contact the retailers directly if they have any questions.

It's a good idea and anything that makes it easier to find an alternative to the energy-guzzling supermarket is, of course, welcome.  There are some limitations to the site, however.

The search function doesn't allow a search by postcode for local stores.  The concept of 'local' suffers, too, since the site only groups retailers at the county level, not town.  This might be down to the fact that there appears to be few shops currently listed on the site.  The press blurb claims more than 2,000 retailers have signed up but by my reckoning 1,690 of these are listed in the 'Internet and Home Based' category - not really very local.

Retailers need to pony up to get listed on site, which may explain the sparseness of the listings.  To be fair, theSHOPPERSbible is trying to remedy the situation by offering free basic listings to the first 999 shopkeepers - the ones with actual bricks and mortar shops - to sign up.  At the time of writing, there were 622 free listings still up for grabs.

theSHOPPERSbible is a nice concept but it needs more shops in its listings.  Even then, it needs to add more information about the ethical and environmental aspects of each shop if it wants to get the full Hippyshopper seal of approval.